Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades and the Cougars will team up with the Houston Texans and Houston Independent School District to provide a program that educates and leads local at-risk youth in the right direction. | Jack Wehman/The Daily Cougar
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) helped UH announce the Cougars’ involvement in a program that she said could save lives.
The Youth Impact Program is intended to educate at-risk youth on gang prevention, conflict resolution, and leaderships, as well as positive role models through working with UH players on the football field.
“We’re in the exact position that a lot of these guys are dreaming to be in one day,” former UH linebacker Matt Nicholson said. “So they’re going to listen to us because they see that we’re doing it. We’re not just talking about it — we’re living that life. Maybe some of those kids don’t have somebody to look up to and maybe we can step in and fill that role.”
Nicholson, who graduated this spring, was named as the head coach for the program. He will team with current UH athletes to work with the over 100 teens that have signed up, while local middle school teachers will spend time with them in the classroom.
“As student-athletes, we know what it takes and you have to have both sides — the academics and the athletics,” Nicholson said. “We’re hoping that we can really get to these guys and show them that if you do things the right way, you can do anything that you want.”
